KEDAINIAI - Vaidotas Volkus had possibly the best game of his career, but it wasn't enough for Port of Parnu to overcome Nevezis, as they suffered a 73-96 away loss. This makes it Parnu's 7th loss in nine games.

The Lithuanians shot ahead in the latter part of the second quarter after a relatively quiet first. Nevezis managed to push the margin to double digits right before the break and kept on building from there on.

In the third period, the margin grew to 17 before being cut back slightly. However, it was still a big deficit on the hands of Parnu, and they had to react quickly if they had any hopes of finishing the year with a win.

Those hopes were short-lived, though, as Nevezis knocked the visitors out with a terrific run in the final fourth. They finished the game high on a 14-4 run to push the margin to game-high 23 points.

Karolis Petrukonis had a solid game in the block, scoring 25 points and adding 9 rebounds for Nevezis. Paulius Petrilevicius added 14 points in just 16 minutes against his former team, while Ignas Vaitkus chipped in with 12.

Vaidotas Volkus had an incredible individual performance, as he tallied 36 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists, which combined for an efficiency rating of 40. He was the only player to reach double-digit scoring for Port of Parnu.

RIGA - Barsy Atyrau seem to be getting closer and closer to securing their first win, as they were just a couple shots away from a victory against Barons kvartals. However, the Latvians managed to perform in crunch time and achieved a 101-94 win.

The way the first quarter played out wasn't a good sign for the visitors, as they were immediately left in the dust of Barons. The Latvians rose to a 12 point advantage and the game seemed to be turning into a blow-out.

However, Barsy fought back and halfway through the second quarter, were already back on level terms. Barons kvartals did finish the quarter on a higher note though, going up by 7 at the break.

Things got even tighter in the second half, as Barsy took their first lead of the game, 53-52. The two teams went back and forth for most of the second half, but a couple mistakes by the visitors allowed Barons to finish out the game strong, as they were better in the 5 final minutes.

Davis Geks led the Latvian squad in scoring, as he dropped 23 points. Davis Zonne added 20 to the tally, while Denis Krestinin chipped in with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds. Kristaps Mediss had 11 points, while both Roberts Freimanis and Tyler Larson finished with 10.

For Barsy, it was the usual suspect, Trevin Parks, leading the way, as he scored game-high 28 points. Pavel Micheev also had a great game, as he had 23 points on just 12 shots, while Pavel Ilin was responsible for 20 points.

PASVALYS – The scoring was high in a battle between two excellent teams, but it was Pieno Zvaigzdes coming out on top, as they drowned Ogre/Kumho Tyre in a three-point hail and took the 102-91 win. The Pasvalys side now holds a league-best record of 8-1, while Ogre were knocked back to 5-5.

The Lithuanian side shot lights-out from beyond the arc, as they made 67%, 14-of-21 shots. However, it was their inability to keep the ball in play that kept the game close – the turnover battle was lost, 24-11.

The first half was fairly close, as neither side could really gain any momentum to get away. The teams battled neck-to-neck for most of the first two quarters, but Pieno Zvaigzdes managed to get a few shots ahead right before the break.

They acquired their first ouble-digit lead in the third quarter, after two three pointers from Ignas Fiodorovas, followed by another one from Derrick Low. An 11-point deficit was not yet a done deal, and Ogre manged to cut into that margin, but a couple great plays from Pieno Zvaigzdes newcomer Evaldas Zabas pushed the game out of reach.

For the Lithuanian team, it was Osvaldas Olisevicius scoring high, as he hit 16 points. Derrick Low came close to a double-double with 14 points and 9 assists. Nikita Balashov and Evaldas Zabas, who made his debut tonight, both had 13 points, while Andriy Agafonov finished the game with 11. Ignas Fiodorovas and Karolis Babkauskas also reached double-digit scoring, as they contributed 10 points apiece.

On the other hand, Karlis Apsitis was the leading scorer for Ogre, as he tallied 20. Both Guntis Sipolins and Gints Antrops chipped in with 16, while Marcis Vitols and Rihards Zebergs added 11.

It was a relatively close game for three quarters, but Barsy crumbled in the final fourth, and it was Jurmala/Fenikss taking their second straight win. The game turned into a blow-out in ten minutes and the Latvians celebrated a 63-96 win.

Jurmala led from the very first minute to the last, as they opened the game up with a 9-0 run with three three-pointers. The Kazakhs finally got something up, but the home side’s long range artillery was on point, knocking down 7 threes in the first quarter alone.

Nine points separated the two sides after the first quarter and Jurmala/Fenikss managed to push that margin to 12 in the second one.

We saw a bit more fight in Barsy after the halftime break, as they managed to get back into single-digit territory with a good 8-0 run. Nevertheless, it was still another 8 points between the two sides.

The final quarter was a disaster for Barsy, while Jurmala/Fenikss got everything to fall. A seven minute stretch to open the quarter was won by a ridiculous 23 points, 27-4, and the game was all over.

Edgars Jeromanovs had another great performance shooting from beyond the arc, as he dropped 5-of-7 for a total of 18 points. He also chipped in with 7 assists (and 7 turnovers). Ugis Pinete added another 18 points, while Viktors Iljins added 13 points. Janis Dilevka finished with 10 points.

On the other team, Trevin Parks had a great night scoring, as he was responsible for nearly half of his team’s points with 26. Mikhail Yevstigneev ended the evening with 11 points.

Another week has gone by, and we‘ve witnessed some spectacular basketball in the Triobet BBL. Of course, the main talking point has to be Edgars Jeromanovs and the game between Jurmala/Fenikss and Liepaja/Triobet, but we‘ve got a lot more in the tenth volume of the Triobet BBL Weekly Review!

MVP. It is no surprise that Edgars Jeromanovs became the Player of the Week with the performance he put up. The guard buried 10 three-pointers (on 12 attempts) for a total of 39 points, while also adding 9 rebounds and 8 assists. He set two new all-time records: most three-pointers made in a game, and highest overall efficiency (51).

FORTRESS. AVIS Rapla also made headlines this week as they finished with a victory against Barsy in their final home game of the year. That put them at a 10-0 record at home throughout all competitions, a result last reached nearly 15 years ago.

BUZZERBEATER. As Edgars Jeromanovs knocked down a step-back three-pointer to push Jurmala/Fenikss up by three with seconds remaining in the game, most thought it was game over. However, before Jurmala could start celebrating, Lateef Mcmullan responded with a half-court buzzer-beater to send the game to overtime.

SHOOTING. It’s hard to win a basketball game when you’re not making three-pointers, and Tarvas/Palmse Metall just proved that. In the match-up against Valmiera/ORDO, the Estonians made just 4-of-25 from beyond the arc to set their season-low shooting at 16%. To make things worse, Valmiera made nearly everything from in close, as they knocked down 29-of-37 (78%) from two-point range.

WHEN IT MATTERS MOST. Nevezis held a 14-point advantage after just the first quarter in their game against Barons kvartals, but in the end, that didn’t really matter. The Latvians got back into the game in the next two periods and were thoroughly dominant in the final fourth, winning 22-12 to take a comfortable 77-68 victory.

CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR. Barsy have now lost four games in a row, but at least they‘re being competitive. Their last game against Port of Parnu went down the wire, but it was ultimately another defeat for the Kazakhs, 73-78.

We had a lot of exciting basketball in the Triobet BBL this week, including broken all-time records and half-court game-tying buzzer-beaters, but nevertheless, let’s take a look at what’s been going on outside the Baltics. BBL.net presents you the European Competitions Weekly round-up.

7DAYS EuroCup

Lietkabelis lost five of their six last games in the Regular Season but managed to qualify for the next round nevertheless. The round of Top 16 starts right after the New Year and the Lithuanian club is going to face three tough opponents – Khimki, Ratiopharm and FC Bayern Munich.

VTB United League

It seems that after a decent start, Kalev/Cramo have gone off track a bit. Their recent 63-90 blow-out loss against Avtodor makes it 5 losses in a row and that really doesn’t bode well for the Estonians. Their last matchup of 2016 will be a strong Khimki team, and hopefully the Tallinn side can finally turn their fortunes around.

Basketball Champions League

Anything might still happen in Group C as the fourth and seventh places in the group are separated by just one victory. That is why Ventspils’ win against Rosa Radom was so important this week. The Latvians were down by 8 at halftime but managed to dominate the third quarter and sneaked back home with a comfortable 79-63 victory.

Juventus have bounced back from two consecutive losses in Group D with a solid 10-point win against Belgian club Telenet Oostende. The Lithuanians got off to a strong start and built their lead up throughout the game to take the 81-71 home victory. They now stand at a 6-3 record and are firmly amongst the four best teams in the group. Their next opponent will be Tenerife, who are now the lone leaders of the group with 7 wins in 9 games.

FIBA Europe Cup

TU/Rock, TLU/Kalev and Siauliai have already finished their European campaigns with zero victories, but Prienu-Birstono Vytautas is still going strong. They are the highest scoring, rebounding and assisting team in the league and they continue proving that in the Second Round of the FIBA Europe Cup. The Lithuanians were dominant in the first half of their game against the Redwell Gunners, going up by 19 after the first quarter, and 30 after two. Despite letting up a bit in the second half, they rose victorious with a 91-72 victory.

It doesn‘t get better than what we saw on Tuesday evening, when Jurmala/Fenikss faced off against Liepaja/Triobet – an overtime thriller that included a game-tying buzzer-beater from half court. Edgars Jeromanovs‘ historical performance was the cherry on top, as he wins the Weekly MVP award by a landslide.

It doesn‘t get much better than what we saw on Tuesday evening, when Jurmala/Fenikss faced off against Liepaja/Triobet – an overtime thriller that included a game-tying buzzer-beater from half court. Edgars Jeromanovs‘ historical performance was the cherry on top of the cake, as he wins the Weekly MVP award by a landslide.

The 30-year-old was simply unbelievable and seemed to have unlimited range, as he knocked down shot after shot after shot from downtown, making an incredible 10-of-12from long range. That helped him destroy the season record for highest scoring performance by eight points and set it at 39.

The scary thing about Edgars Jeromanovs’ performance was that it wasn’t just his scoring that was on point, as he also tallied 9 rebounds, dished out 8 assists and swiped the ball away twice. This amounted for an efficiency rating of 51 – that is the best result in league history, as far as our statistics department lets us know.

It was a historic performance and we didn’t even mention the fact that the Latvian needed merely 17 field goal and 6 free throw attempts to reach the season scoring record, as he made 2-of-5 shots from two-point range, 10-of-12 three-pointers and 5-of-6 free throws.

10 three-pointers made is also an all-time BBL record, whereas his 12 attempts wouldn't even make it into the Top 30.

A truly remarkable performance that gave Jurmala/Fenikss their third victory in spectacular fashion.

PARNU – Barsy have been looking to capture their first win for a while now, and although they did get close to doing just that, they‘ll have to wait just a while longer. In the only game of the night the Kazakhs fell after a hard-fought battle against Port of Parnu, 73-78.

It took a while for both teams to get into rhythm, as they started off shooting really poorly. Both teams fixed that in the second part of the first period and went neck-to-neck, with Parnu making the final shot of the quarter to pull up by three.

Parnu managed to gain some grounds in the second quarter, as their lead improved to 10 with five minutes remaining in the half. However, the second part of the period belonged to Barsy, as they rushed off to a 15-0 run to end the quarter and go up by 2, 35-40.

It was a very close affair after halftime as well, and neither side could really take a position of control. While it was mostly Port of Parnu up in the quarter, the margin between the two teams was just two points before the final fourth.

The home side managed to push up ahead in the beginning of the fourth quarter, as they held a six point lead, but, obviously, having invested so much into the game, the Kazakhs were not about to let up. They battled back and the fate of the game was decided in the final minutes.

With a minute remaining, it was just two points between the clubs, as Vaidotas Volkus took a stand at the free-throw line to extend Parnu‘s lead to four. The teams traded bad possessions, and time wasn‘t on the visitors‘ side. Parnu extended their lead with free-throws and captured their second victory.

Trevin Parks was the top scorer for Barsy, as he scored 20 points. Mikhail Yevstigneev was solid with 17 points to his name, while Anthony Johnson tallied 14. Pavel Ilin finished the game with 9 points and 8 rebounds.

RAKVERE – Valmiera/ORDO didn’t have to sweat too hard to bang home their sixth win and stay amongst the group leaders. Tarvas/Palmse Metall just didn’t have enough fight in them and fell way short 105-74.

It didn't take too long for the visitors to get going, as Valmiera/ORDO had already amassed a 12-point margin just five minutes into the game. The double-digit margin stuck with them for good, as they finished the quarter up 11.

By halftime, the gap had grown to 20 points and it seemed this one was already over. Despite a solid lead, Valmiera did not become complacent and followed a good half with their best quarter.

A 31-13 quarter brought their advantage to a game-high 38 points and at that point there was definitely no coming back for Tarvas.

They managed to slightly chip at the lead, but that didn't make much difference in the final outlook.

The Latvians were better in nearly all categories, but what stands out is their terrific shooting percentage – Valmiera/ORDO made 78% of their 2-point field goals. And despite that, still managed to grab as many offensive rebounds as their opponents.

Arturs Berzins and Martins Laksa stood out in the scoring department, as they had 17 points each for Valmiera, while Lauris Blaus added 15. Damier Pitts chipped in with 13, while Janis Kaufmanis ended the game with a dozen points. Rinalds Malmanis and Ervins Jonats contributed 11 points with 7 rebounds, and 10 points with 8 rebounds, respectively.

Timo Eichfuss was the highest scorer on the other side, as he tallied 18 before fouling out. Siim Markus Post was solid with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.

RIGA – Barons kvartals made it three in a row and improved to an overall record of 6-2 with their latest win against Nevezis. The Kedainiai side was a tough competitor for three quarters, but Barons took control in the final fourth and took home the 77-68 victory.

Nevezis shot ahead in the first ten minutes, as they played a near-perfect quarter. Everything seemed to be falling and the Lithuanians managed to reach a 14-point advantage.

Despite a horrible start, Barons didn't give up and came firing back in the second period. A good run helped them wipe out nearly the whole deficit and it was just five points between the two clubs at halftime.

Barons kvartals' comeback was real, and they made sure they were back in contention before crunch time, now down by just a single point.

That is when Nevezis started breaking down, and the Latvians finally shot ahead. They won the final quarter by 10 and achieved quite a comfortable victory.

Throughout the whole game the Latvians turned the ball over just five times, while Nevezis were sloppy and gave the ball away 22 times.

Davis Geks had a good game scoring the ball, as he put up 19 points, while Tauras Jogela added 14 to the tally. Both Andris Epners and Tyler Larson had 12 points, while the latter also contributed team-best 10 rebounds and 6 assists.

Paulius Petrilevicius had an efficient game, scoring 17 points on 9 field goal attempts, while Karolis Petrukonis added 15 points and 9 rebounds. Ivan Smiljanic chipped in with 12 points and 7 boards. Jermaine Love ended the game with 11 points on perfect shooting, but was also responsible for seven of those turnovers for Nevezis.